Two Incredible Tools for Finding
Your Wisdom and Gaining Clarity

Don’t you love those moments of “Aha”? Those precious, golden, insightful moments when everything seems clear and when your direction becomes that yellow brick road that will lead you directly to Oz!

I celebrate when I experience those moments. I have discovered 2 incredible tools that foster the experience at will:

• Morning pages
• A powerful journaling question

Morning pages is a practice from The Artist’s Way*. Write 3 pages—without stopping—first thing in the morning. That means before going or doing anything, including reading the morning paper.

Usually a “to do” list comes out first. Julie Cameron (author of The Artist’s Way) calls that the “pond scum” that rises to the top. Keep writing. Discover what is in your “stream of consciousness” (this is whatever comes out of your mind or is floating around inside your head). The last page often contains insights, problem solving, or the real gems of wisdom.

I love the process. It never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes powerful affirmations flow onto the paper. Other times, the mind generates new ideas, or realizes what’s missing from a business plan. Write about family, friends, parents ... it brings a sense of whole personhood. Sometimes what is out of balance becomes more obvious. If I become stuck, without finishing 3 full pages, I find a good journaling question from one of my favorite sources. That brings me to the second tool.

This powerful question for journaling came from the chapter on “Will and Intention” in Gloria Karpinski’s book, Barefoot on Holy Ground**. The question is: Why am I here now?

Exploring why you are here now is about understanding your purpose, mission, and gifts. I found that it brought incredible insight to a sense of value, which is one of the very concepts I feel called to examine with women and minorities who are often not valued in our money-oriented culture.

Why am I here now? creates personal accountability.

It is almost impossible to be in a state of victim consciousness when addressing that question. Go ahead. Explore this question. Answer it. Determine why you are here, at this time in history, amongst the people you are amongst. What are they teaching you? What do they need from you to find their highest good (which is not the same as the accumulation of wealth)?

Clarity is one of the treasured gifts in life. It comes and it goes. But when it is present, one can move forward with such unstoppable momentum. I guess it is part of the power in “Will and Intention.” Thank you, Gloria.

*Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. New York: Tarcher, 1992.
**Karpinski, Gloria. Barefoot on Holy Ground : Twelve Lessons in Spiritual Craftsmanship. New York: Wellspring/Ballantine, 2001.